Mark of a Time Traveller
by Ash to Dust
Summary: At first she thought it was a tattoo but then she realised that it meant something so much more. Amy keeps seeing a strange mark on the Doctor's skin, but can never bring herself to ask him about it until one appears on her. From that point on Amy's life and relationship with the Doctor is dictated through the marks and the stories they have to tell.
1. Mark of a Time Traveller

N.B. Partly because of the incredibly positive response this story got and partly because the plot bunnies refused to leave me alone I have decided to continue this story as a selection of one shots exploring the Doctor relationship with his companions, the Tardis and his impact on his friend's lives. I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who commented on / read / favourited this when I first posted it. You are all amazing people. Also I had moved my other one shot (All of Time and Space) from a story on it's own to part two of this series. I will keep the original up as an independent story until further notice. I'll shut up now and let you read something other than this rambling. Ash to Dust x

Disclaimer: I emailed the BBC and they reminded me that I still own nothing and earn nothing from it.

_This one shot was inspired partly by the Corsair's tattoo in The Doctor's Wife and partly by my strange imagination. Constructive critism always welcome, happy reading (or re-reading as the case might be)._

Mark of a Time Traveller

Amy first saw the mark the marred the Doctor's perfect skin when he undressed in the hospital in front of both her and Rory. At the time she had dismissed it as a bizarre but strangely beautiful tattoo that curved gently around the back of a pale shoulder, black ink against milky white. Frankly, she was actually thinking of asking him where he got it but had no opportunity because by the time she'd remembered the existence of the mark he'd gone running off again.

X

The fifth time she saw the mark, well sort of, it didn't really count, was after Loristan VI. The Doctor was ignoring her for no apparent reason, muttering about spacey-wacey things to do with the Tardis, when she caught a glimpse of the monitor and saw a strangely familiar shape bouncing around on the screen in a constant state of change.

"What's this swirling thing?" She asked the Time Lord who had his head stuck under the console and was messing about with his sonic screwdriver.

"What swirling thing?" The Doctor asked, alarmed and sat up, realising a second too late that he was still under the console and smashing his head into the underside of the panel. Rubbing his head and cursing he stumbled out and looked around bleary-eyed until he spotted Amy, hands on hips, pointing at the view screen.

"I mean this swirling stuff on the screen." She said pointedly. The Doctor sighed in annoyance and relaxed.

"You had me worried that something extremely very not good was happening." He was pointing a finger at her and trying to look intimidating whilst still rubbing his aching head. Amy, pitying the injured man gave a small sigh of her own and apologised for scaring him.

"But really, what is it?"

"Well," the Doctor replied enigmatically, "you don't really think English is my first language do you?"

"So this is like your native language then?" Amy ventured turning her head and trying to make some sense of the circles.

"Yes," the Doctor said moving over and carefully switching the screen off, "Gallifreyan."

"It sounds beautiful." The Doctor gave her a wistful look for a long moment.

"It is."

X

Neither of them talks about the fourth time. The ambassadors hadn't appreciated the Doctor's attempts to negotiate. Amy vaguely remembered supporting the Time Lord back to the Tardis and to the med bay, remembered slipping off layers of clothing, trying her hardest to ignore every flinch and pain-filled moan that her ministrations caused, remembered a glimpse of black under glistening red as her carefully cleaned and bandaged the bullet wound.

Later when she comes across him sat in just his undershirt in the Tardis kitchen eating fish fingers and custard and declaring that he's mourning the loss of his bowtie she knows he'll be alright.

X

The second time is just after he's found the swimming pool which has managed to relocate itself to the wardrobe. He takes her there to find some clothes after the incident with the Star Whale and Amy's glad because she understands that it's his way of saying sorry and proving to her that she can stay.

However the moment he opens the door for a big reveal and steps through he lets out a girly yelp, slips on wet tiles and falls head first into the pool. Amy watches as he surfaces, sputtering and soaking wet.

"But now I'll have to find some dry clothes too!" He cries indignantly as Amy laughs, she can't help herself, he looks so funny and strangely adorable floating in the calming water. She doesn't notice his amused smirk as he reaches her side of the pool and in one swift moment pulls her in.

She shrieks too but then they're both laughing at each other's expense and the Doctor's jacket gets removed and flung onto dry land before he races her to the deep end. After half an hour of chasing and splashing they lay floating staring up at the several floors of clothes racks.

Eventually the Doctor rolls over in the water and swims over the side, pulling himself out with ease then leaning over to help her out. She's surprised when she finds her swim still smooth even after such a long soak.

"Let me guess, it's some spacey water thing yeah?" The Doctor laughs and nods in agreement helping her out and heading towards the stairs,

"I think you'll find some stuff on the third floor." He nods towards the stairs and Amy heads up, glancing back down to catch a glimpse of the Doctor sliding off his shirt and then she sees it again, clear against his shoulder.

It's just as beautiful as the first time she saw it.

After a moment she moves on to find herself some clothes before it gets a little too cold in her own damp nightgown, but on the way up she traces entwining circles on the banister.

X

Amy promises herself that she'll never forget the third time. It had been a couple of weeks into her adventures when she'd first woken with nightmares, tired and scared she'd tried to find comfort in a good book only to find that she couldn't find the library. Instead she ended up outside a large wooden door that looked more than a little intimidating, but after a push of hot air from the Tardis she knocked, feeling for the entire world like a little girl outside the headmaster's office.

"Come in." It was the Doctor's voice. Surprised she pushed the door open and found herself in what could only be the Doctor's room. The ceiling of stars, walls packed with shelves of books and trinkets and littered with photos of all sorts of people and in the middle of the chaos a large bed with an antique wooden bedstead and several mattresses. In the middle of the bed lay the Doctor, looking up at her over the rims of his glasses (seen when did he wear those?) wearing only pyjama bottoms and with a large book propped up in his lap.

"Did you have nightmares?" He asked softly, knowing without even needing confirmation but she nodded anyway. Smiling softly he shifted over on the bed which looked inviting and snugly and warm as he gently patted the spot beside him.

Sheepishly she sat beside him and curled up on herself, wrapping her arms around her knees. But the Doctor was having none of it and placed the book aside, lifting the covers for her. Hesitantly she slipped under and marvelled at how soft his bed really was. A moment later he joined her, head propped up against the pillows the covers pulled up to his waist.

"Comfy?" He queried and she nodded, scared that moving any closer to him would scare him away. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not really." She didn't, frankly she'd rather forget it all.

"Alright then, try to get some sleep." The Doctor told her as he turned back to his book.

"Why are you wearing glasses?" The question was out before she could stop herself. But much to her surprise the Doctor wasn't angry.

"When you get to my age your eyesight tends to go a bit." He explained simply, "It was worse in my last body but it's not gone completely. Usually it's ok but reading for long periods gives me headaches unless I wear them." Amy nodded, understanding now that he had explained regeneration to her.

"Can you read aloud for me?" If the Doctor was surprised at the request he didn't look it, just nodded and pulled a different book for a pile on the bedside table. As he leaned over Amy could clearly see the mark on his skin and up close she realised it wasn't a tattoo at all, it seemed to be part of him, like a birthmark. She reached out to touch it, fascinated but pulled away when she thought that it could easily but poisonous to her or something like that. The moment was lost as the Doctor found what he was looking for and turned back towards her.

When he pulled her towards him and told her to get comfy she realised that he had suddenly become the father-figure she'd seen him as during her younger years. Admittedly when she had seen him in the hospital he had become more boyfriend material but now, in his arms as he read a bedtime story to keep the nightmares away he was the dad she had never had.

That night she fell asleep curling up to the Doctor's side, one of his arms slung comfortably around her shoulders as his voice lulled her into pleasant dreams.

X

Amy first saw the mark that marred her own skin in the mirror in her bathroom on the Tardis. It hadn't been there the day before but it was there now, curling around her waist on the right side. It was faint but it was a pattern of circles, entwined and intricate, just like the Doctor's. Initially she was scared, wondering what it meant, but decided the best way to deal with it would be to confront the Doctor directly. Wearing a crop shirt so that the barely-formed mark was clearly visible she headed to the control room.

"Doctor, can I ask you something?" She asked when he didn't notice straight away, turning back to his tinkering.

"You already have." He pointed out with a teasing smile.

"There's a mark that's appeared on me." The Doctor immediately stopped and glanced up at her, eyes widening slightly as he saw the mark on her skin.

"Oh." He said simply as he approached her slowly, reaching out with a hand but stopping himself just short, "May I?" When Amy nodded she felt his cool skin carefully caress the mark, following its curves around her waist.

"Is it bad?" She asked fearfully.

"Bad?" He asked in shock, "No, it's not bad. It's the mark of the Tardis."

"Sorry?" Amy asked now thoroughly confused.

"Occasionally the Tardis marks companions like that; it's her way of saying that she likes you and that she's not likely to throw you into the nearest supernova if I'm not around."

"Is that it?" Amy asked, now relieved that it wasn't a symptom of a strange alien illness.

"Yep," he announced moving backwards, "completely harmless." After a moment of silence Amy decided to bring up something that had been bothering her for a long time.

"You have one too." The Doctor nodded, "It's stronger than mine."

"Well, I've lived here longer. Yours will probably get stronger the longer you stay here."

"Is it permanent?"

"Sort of, it'll fade if you leave but it won't vanish entirely."

"Can I see yours?" Once again her mouth moves ahead of her brain and she blushes furiously but to her surprise the Doctor nods again and slides his jacket off, unbuttons the top few buttons of his shirt, removes his bowtie and carefully slides the material off his shoulder.

This time Amy can examine it properly, this time she doesn't shy away and carefully traces the lines just as he did with her. It seems strangely intimate and steps back after a moment allowing the Doctor the slide his jacket back on.

"It's the mark of a time traveller." Amy announces and the Doctor confirms her thoughts with a smile.

"The whole of time and space Amelia Pond, welcome aboard."

For once she doesn't mind that he uses her full name, although it might be something to do with the fact that his bowtie is still lying forgotten on the chair. Either way, she wouldn't want to be anywhere else, she was home.

X

Fin.


	2. All of Time and Space

_N.B. This is set between The God Complex and Closing Time_

_I was just thinking that the Doctor has two hundred years to waste, two hundred years to run before his appointment at Lake Silencio. Inevitably he must pick up a few people along the way._

All of Time and Space

The first fifty odd years he spends alone and it drives him mad. Every time he goes to explain something he turns to that empty space behind him and feels empty when no one is standing there listening to every word with rapture. The companion he imagines, sometimes hallucinates, changes regularly but it always hurts the most when it's someone he's let down. Eventually he realises that he has to find someone or he won't make it to Utah in one piece, he needs someone to watch his back, but still he's reluctant to find that person. In the end the Tardis acts upon her initiative and makes the decision for him, taking him to where he needs to be.

X

Interestingly it's only his fourth companion that the Tardis marks as her own, but then again she's special. After the disaster that was the end of his previous partner in crime he doesn't want to be near anyone ever again but when this student in an alien library starts to recite her notes in Gallifreyan he can't contain his excitement, his hope. It's unfounded of course, she's a historian, piecing together all she can but she's hit rock bottom and her instructors are all for chucking her out and leaving her with nothing. It was the ultimate shame in her society to be left with nothing so when he makes the proposition she can hardly say no.

In the beginning she regards him as a saviour, saving her from a lifetime of misery. He's racked with guilt because he knows that this life will do so much worse to her. He underestimates her, it takes her barely a day to discover that he's only interested in her because she can speak his native tongue, albeit trippingly. But she doesn't mind, she's young and this is an opportunity she won't turn down, to pay him back for taking her through time and space she starts to speak Gallifreyan all the time.

After the first few years she's fluent in Gallifreyan and her native tongue is shaky and uncertain, he convinces himself that he's corrupted her.

Occasionally he forgets that she's an academic, clever and resourceful. But when she starts saving him more than he saves her he realises how much he's come to rely on her. In his mind she was young and innocent and saw the word with wonder but now she's matured and the wonder is replaced with an almost scientific curiosity. He explains everything with patience and when he hasn't the time because they're too busy running from whatever species they've upset this time he makes sure to come back to the points he's missed when they're safe.

He forgets when it moved from you and me to us.

Eventually he defines their relationship and a brotherly, sisterly, love and closeness. They watch out for each other and with her long lifespan, nearly as long as a Time Lords, they could be together for as long as they wanted. But then the Tardis marked her, beautifully carved Gallifreyan across her back and up to her shoulder, it mirrors his. That's when he realises it has to end and he drops her off back home, leaving her a final parting gift of a Gallifreyan book that will get her back into her instructor's favour. He hopes she will find it in her heart to forgive him one day.

In his little Tardis blue journal he writes about their last adventure and finishes the entry as he always does, only this time in the past tense.

_Her name was Sefira._

X

His third companion gets off to a bad start but he's only got himself to blame. After all it is his fault that this man is still standing in front of him and not buried in the remains of Satellite Five.

_His name is __Captain__ Jack Harkness._

It's awkward to have the wrongness around him constantly because Jack is wrong but he bears it because Jack deserves some unconditional friendship, especially from him. It takes time but old wounds begin to heal and Jack becomes his closest friend. So close that he shows him the journal and laughs when Jack steals the pencil off him and underlines the captain in his name.

Jack accepts that he's not the only one who's important to him.

That's why he decides to show Jack the room. The walls are covered in photos of old friends. There are so many that some are hanging from string from the ceiling. When Jack asks who they are he tells him that this room contains everyone he's let down. It takes Jack only a few seconds to find his picture and seconds more for him to wrap the Doctor is a firm hug and tell him that despite everything he's never let him down.

When Jack next dies for him he leaves before the Doctor tells him to, Jack understands.

X

The first person he finds has been searching for him for almost as long as he's been running. She's running to, from so many things. He takes her in warily, remembering what happened the last time they met. But after saving someone she could have killed without blinking he is happy to write her name down.

_Her name is River Song._

He need not write anything else.

River begins to become the person he knows in their sporadic journeys together. He sees now why she keeps a diary because it can get confusing when he always meets her at different points in her timeline. He doesn't have to worry so much about River, he knows she can look after herself but whenever he sees her he can't help but feel guilty because he's always wondering how far she is from the library. Knowing how she's going to die pulls him down and he can't help but feel both upset and happy whenever he drops River back to Stormcage, her house or from wherever he picked her up, because the library is still so far away.

At some point he falls completely and utterly in love with her.

They grow closer the closer he gets to Utah, but even though he wants to he never proposes to her because he knows what happens next will break her heart and he won't put her through that. Instead he's happy with a ring box in his pocket and River by his side. He wonders why the Tardis has never marked River but then again the Tardis knows just as well as he does how it's going to end.

The last time he sees her before Lake Silencio he shows her his name, written in stars at the Medusa Cascade. She says it's beautiful.

He neglects to mention that he's technically just married her.

X

His final companion is short-lived. He only picked him up because he was lonely and he quickly found that he couldn't stand him. He was a soldier and he acted like one. It drove the Doctor madder than being alone had. In the end he dropped him off back home without a word. He only got one entry in the journal.

_His name was Rykan Laurence, stay away no matter what._

X

Once he'd dropped River back home he met his second companion. Well technically she was actually his first companion because River hardly counted. In many ways she reminds him of Amy Williams because she has that childlike wonder whenever she sees something new. It makes him feel young again and he knows it's selfish but he can't help it.

He shows her the wonders of the universe but he knows it won't last, she'll realise how dangerous it is and back off. He was right of course, she left him, but for different reasons than the ones he thought would drive her away. She lasted longer than he expected at any rate.

After one particularly nerve-racking adventure she'd asked for somewhere quiet and relaxing and he'd taken her to a sunny beach in the middle of nowhere, with friendly locals and no need for sun cream. She'd loved it; he'd had time to reflect. By the end of the week they spent on the coast she's found someone who will appreciate her for who she is and he can't deny her that.

Even though he receives an invitation he doesn't go to the wedding, she didn't need him anymore and quite frankly she wouldn't approve of his dancing.

_Her name was Evelyn Jackson, now it's Evelyn Summers and she's happy._

It's the first name he writes in his journal. It also has the happiest ending so in a way he's glad that whenever he opens the blue book he'll always see the happy ending first.

X

For two hundred years he had been running. Now it's time for him to stop. For one final adventure he acts as outrageously as possible to get himself into the history books for Amy and Rory and whoever else might remember him.

He writes more letters to companions than he can count and numbers them. The first four he seals away in Tardis blue envelopes and posts them, one for Amy and Rory, one for River, one for Canton and the final one to start the whole cycle turning. The rest he leaves in his journal along with the final entry.

_His name was the Doctor._

He hopes that one day the rest of the blank pages will be filled by him, that he'll find a way out but he leaves the book in River's pocket with the ring box for safekeeping just in case.

X

Fin.


	3. All Stories in the End

_N.B. This is set after Amy has actually left the Tardis and relates more closely to Mark of a Time Traveller than All of Time and Space did.  
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_In memory of Elizabeth Sladen._

We're All Just Stories in the End

In all her years of travelling with the Doctor (although she accepted that she would never know precisely how long she had stayed) Amy Pond saw the mark of the Tardis on five people other than the Doctor and herself. At first Amy was jealous of the familiarity between the Doctor and his previous companions because he was supposed to be hers for now, this was her time and she would be damned if she didn't make the most of it. But over time Amy came to realise that every person was special in their own unique way, every person had a different story, and (perhaps most importantly) a different relationship with the Time Lord.

X

Jack Harkness was the Doctor's equal.

But Jack Harkness, or rather Captain Jack Harkness, was the _only_ companion she would describe as the Doctor's equal. The flirty, admittedly handsome, man was the third of the Doctor's previous travelling pals that Amy actually met during her own time aboard the Tardis.

"Why hello there." Jack introduced himself with a smile, raised eyebrows and a kiss on the hand. Or rather, he did until the Doctor and Rory collectively ruined the fun.

"Jack, no."

"I'm her husband."

Jack stuck around for a while but it quickly became clear that he and the Doctor had too much in common to actually feel comfortable around each other. In the end Jack chose to leave but not before Amy got a glimpse of the mark of the Tardis curling around his wrist beneath his vortex manipulator.

Jack saw the glance and gave her a knowing smile before vanishing in a puff of vortex energy.

X

Wilfred Mott was the Doctor's father-figure.

Whilst Wilfred Mott wasn't, by Amy's standards, technically a companion he certainly made an impression so Amy counted him as the second acquaintance of the Doctor that she had met.

Actually the whole meeting was a bit of an accident but the Doctor muttered something about there still being a specific link between Wilfred Mott and himself, even though it should no longer exist. But it just so happened that Wilfred was frequenting the very coffee shop that the Doctor had discovered an alien signal coming from, although it turned out to be a bit of space junk.

"How about a cuppa then?" Wilfred asked when the Doctor turned to leave far too soon for his liking, "for old time's sake?" Wilfred did after all take it upon himself to look after the alien because he understood that sometimes the Doctor needed to know someone was there for him. That and the fact that he wanted to ask more about the face change.

However when he handed the Doctor's tea over, white one sugar as always, the Doctor nearly dropped it.

"Wilfred, what's that on your hand?" Wilfred glanced down at the small black swirling mark that had appeared on his left hand just after the previous Doctor had left with a shrug but let the Doctor examine it nonetheless.

"It just appeared and it won't come off." Wilfred trailed off when he noticed the shimmer in the Doctor's eyes, "Hey lad, are you alright?"

"She marked you." The Doctor's voice was quiet and shaky.

"Sorry?"

"The Tardis, she marked you as her own." Wilfred left both confused and overwhelmed but before he could say anything the Doctor spoke again, urgent and frightened.

"When we last met you said you'd be proud to be my dad. Do you still hold to that?" In that moment Wilf saw years of insecurity and sadness and knew the answer before he even had to think about it.

"Of course son." Amy's mouth dropped open.

With an emotional smile the Doctor released him, sat and sipped at his tea, smiling slightly when he realised Wilf had even remembered his preference. Slowly, cautiously Amy sat opposite Wilf, next to the Doctor and gazed at the old man with a new admiration as they waited for the Doctor to regain control.

"So Wilfred Mott, how's Donna?"

As the afternoon progressed the mark became but a distant memory but later Amy would think back and call Wilfred Mott family.

X

Martha Smith (nee Jones) was the Doctor's failure.

Amy met Martha when the Doctor got called to assist U.N.I.T with a runaway alien. Martha was the fifth and final previous companion, funny, kind, haunted and broken all at once.

The Doctor spotted her mark straight away, dark against dark skin it should have been harder to spot but the Doctor had been looking for it and it was there, wrapping around a delicate ankle.

Later the Doctor would say that the Tardis had recognised love, hope and potential where he had crushed it out of bitterness. The Doctor knew he had failed Martha Jones.

Amy would remember Martha saying quietly to her "I was never enough for him," and relate it to how she treated Rory to make sure she never made the same mistake.

X

River Song was the Doctor's wife.

Well, sort of, it depends where River is in her timeline compared to where the Doctor is in his but they were never going to be a conventional couple.

River Song is also the first person other than the Doctor that Amy sees marked by the Tardis. It mirrors the Doctor's perfectly curling beautiful and strong over her shoulder, reflecting how they were always meant to be together.

River's is also the only person who has no mark and the start of her life and no mark and the end because as the Doctor knows her less her mark fades away. Amy thinks it must the worst thing in the world, having a reminder that one day your husband won't know you at all.

Until then it "hello sweetie's" and "spoilers" and stolen moments and stolen kisses. Amy knows that River, her daughter, has many more adventure with the Doctor once Amy's gone, whisked away from Stormcage in the dead of night.

Despite knowing this Amy always wonders if they ever got to go on a honeymoon. She then spends days trying to forget that that particular thought ever began.

X

Sarah-Jane Smith was the Doctor's closest friend.

Sarah-Jane is not only the first but also the only previous companion that Amy meets without really meeting. The phone call had come late and night and was quite clearly unexpected because when Amy went to find out who was ringing that late at night she was beaten to the phone by and equally bleary-eyed, pyjama-bottom-clad Doctor.

"Hello?"

The Doctor suddenly went very still and very, very white. Amy was so concerned that she actually ran over, took the Doctor gently by the arm and sat him on the chair because he looked like he would fall if she didn't.

"When?"

The Doctor's voice cracks halfway through the word and Amy sees unshed tears building in his eyes. She wants to shout at whoever was making the Doctor cry and tell them to stop, but before she could the Doctor regained some coherence.

"Of course I'll be there, what time? Yes, I, I just, sorry."

The phone falls from his nerveless grasp and without another word he curled into Amy's shoulder and cried. Amy knew better than to ask.

The following morning Amy attended the funeral of Sarah-Jane Smith. The Doctor just about managed to keep his composure through the ceremony but when the majority had left and only Amy, Luke and K9 were left the Doctor broke.

"There was never anyone like Sarah-Jane. She's the only friend I've ever had that the Tardis marked the moment they entered, right in the middle of her back. Even the old girl knew what we would achieve together. How could she leave me like this?"

The Doctor mourned. Amy mourned that she never knew someone who could reduce the Time Lord to this because they must have been extraordinary.

To help him feel better she makes fish fingers and custard for breakfast the next morning. When he gives her a watery smile and slowly makes his way through over half the plate she knows he'll be ok.

X

Rory Williams was the Doctor's father-in-law and Amy was annoyed that his mark was stronger than hers, curling gently around his upper arm. Amy would also deny that she loved every inch of it.

Amelia Pond was the Doctor's mother-in-law.

But if anyone asked her how she would describe her relationship with the man she usually stuck to "it's complicated" and hoped for the best. Really, what do you say when a rather attractive man nine hundred years older than you undresses in front of you the first time you meet and is then completely oblivious when you consequently come onto him after a near death experience, jumps between buddy, boyfriend and father material daily and later marries your daughter?

Although frankly Amy can't wait for the day when someone asks and "it's complicated" isn't enough because she'll always believe that of all the stories, hers is the best.

X

Fin.


End file.
